Koreas Exchange Artillery Fire Along No-Sail Zone in Yellow Sea

January 27, 2010

North Korea has fired artillery shells near a disputed western sea border with South Korea, prompting the South to respond with warning shots.

In a statement issued through the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the army's general staff said the shells were fired as part of military drills that will continue "in the same waters in the future."

The regime fired about 30 rounds of artillery from its coast. South Korea says its military responded by firing several rounds of artillery from a nearby marine base. Neither side aimed at each other during the exchange, and no injuries were reported in the incident.

South Korean military called Pyongyang's actions "a grave provocation"

A spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Park Sung-woo, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency the military is on high alert.

On Monday, North Korea designated so-called "no-sail" zones along the sea border. In the past, Pyongyang has often declared "no-sail" zones before carrying out missile tests or military drills.

South Korean media quoted military officials on Tuesday as saying the designated "no-sail" zones are near a contested sea border where a brief naval clash took place between the two countries in November, leaving a North Korean vessel in flames.

The Korean rivals fought two deadly naval battles along the disputed area in 1999 and 2002.

A U.S. State Department spokesman Tuesday urged both Koreas to show restraint.

Yonhap reports that prior to the declaration, the North accused the South Korean navy of conducting underwater explosions close to its waters. South Korea dismissed the claim, saying the explosions were part of a routine drill.

The sea border was drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, rather than a formal peace treaty.